Whole grain penne with asparagus and mushrooms

John and I have taken to ordering our groceries online and picking them up at the store in order to avoid the new more transmissible variant of the virus while we are awaiting our vaccines. (Monday!) Normally I would never pick out these very skinny asparagus spears because they are less flavorful than their fatter counterparts. Jacques Pepin has always harped upon the fact that some asparagus comes out of the ground fat and some skinny and it does not mean that the fat ones are less tender or tasty. But skinny asparagus is what I got so I put the whole pound into the pasta.

This is such an easy dinner! The whole thing takes less than one half hour. In the 10 minutes that the pasta is cooking I sautéed the mushrooms, onions, and garlic. When the pasta was al dente I put all my skinny asparagus in with the mushrooms and John poured the drained pasta on top. A little pasta water and a little olive oil, a few stirs over the heat and, presto, our dinner was done.